Railway-switch



(No Model.)

. F. B. BRWIN.

RAILWAY SWITCH.

Nd 466,491. Patented Jan] 5, 1892,

Wh muli fi" wwe/Spa UNITED STATES lPATrnvT OFFICE..

FRANK B. ERWIN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

RAI LWAY-SWITCH'.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 466,491, dated January5, 1892.

v Application mea september 17,1891. seria1N0.405,977. (Nomad.)

To all whom it may concern: f

Be it known that I, FRANK B. ERWIN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, 1n the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Switches for Railways,of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in switches for railways, andwhile it can be applied to and is operative 011 any kind of a railway,yet it is more especially adaptedfor and designed to be used forstreet-railways; and it consists in certain peculiarities of theconstruction and novel arrangement and operation of the variousy partsthereof, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth and specificallyclaimed. o v

The object of my invention is to provide a switch which shall be strong,durable, simple, and effective in operation and inexpensive inconstruction, whereby when in its normal p0- sition the rails of themain track are kept continuous, thus leaving the track open andpreventing accidents, which so often occur in the case of cable,electric, and locomotive trains by reason of a misplaced switch.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which my inventionpertains to make and use the same, I will now proceed to describe it,referring to the accompanying drawings, in whichy Figure l is a planview of a portion of 'ay track and switch with my device attached,showing the rails in their normal position. Fig. 2 is a transversesectional view taken on line m .fr of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a longitudinalsectional view of a portion of Fig. l, taken on line 'y 'y thereof. Fig.4 is an enlarged detail view, partly in section, of a portion of Fig. 2.Figs. 5 and 6 are detail views of the operating-lever and'handle.

Similar letters refer to like parts throughout the different views ofthe drawings.'

A represents the road-bed, upon which is laid in the ordinary manner therails B and B of the tracks.- One of the rails B may be united orconnected to one of the rails B of the other or side track by means of afrog, as shown in Fig. l of the drawings, or otherwise, if desired. Theother railB of the main track is broken, as at a, and is connected anddis- Y connected by means of a movable rail C,which is pivotally securedat one end to a bed-plate D, which plate is laid about iiush with thesurface of the road-bed and forms a covering for the chamber F., inwhich the operating mechanism of my device is located, as well as asmooth door or surface upon which the movable rails C and C mayslide.Near one end this plate isprovifled with a transverse slot b, throughand in which pass and operate the connections c between the movablerails C C', and a guiding-plate F, which plate is provided with one ormore openings e for the reception and retention of the projections orconnections c, and is adapted to operate on the under surface of theplate D, as will be presently explained.

On' the outside of the tracks and preferably in alignment with the slotb the plate vD is formed with an opening G, through which the rod g ofthe handle H for operating the lever passes in its movements.

tween the slot b and the nearer end of the plate is secured a dependingbracket I, to the lower end of which is fulcrumed the lower arm h ot' acompound lever K, Whichlever is preferably bent to form aa right angle,as shown, and has pivotally secured at its angle or elbow the end of thearm f of the plate F, and at the end of its upper arm h the lower end ofthe operating-rod g. Near the end of the arm h is secured an adjustableWeightL, which is of sufficient size to ovcrbalance, through the mediumof the lever, the weight of the rails C and C', and thus keep theconnection of the rails of the main track continuous when the device isnot being operated.

The rail C is placed parallel alongside of the rail C and is pivotallysecured near the end of one of the rails B of the side track to theplate D, and like the rail C has its other end provided with aconnection or proj ectiou c, which passes down through the slot b andopenings e in the plate F, and is therefirmly secured by screw and boltd or otherwise.

In the drawings (see Fig. 3) I have shown the ends of the rails C C bentover to extend through the slot b) but I do not desire to limit myselfto this construction, as I may employ other forms of a connection.

The operation of my device is simple and as follows: When it is desiredto switch a car To the lower surface of the plate D and be- IOO from themain track to the other one, the opcrater raises the lever K by means ofthe rod g and handle Il to the position indicated by dotted lines inFigs. 2 and 4, which operation will force the movable rails C C to theposition indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1, thus changing the unity ofthe rails from the main track to the other or side one, as is apparent.As soon as the car is switched the main track is again opened by theoperator allowing the handle to be drawn down by the weight L till it(the handle) is flush with the surface of the plate D, when the partswill be firmly secured or held in their normal positions.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In a switch for railways, the combination of the rails B and B with thebed-plate D, having the slot b, the opening G, the bracket I, themovable rails C C', pivotally secured at one end to the bed-plate andhaving the project-ions c at their other ends, the lever K,

'fnlcrnmed at its lower end to the bracket I and having the adjustableweight L at its other end, the operating-rod g, having the handle H, theguiding-plate F, having the openings e, and arm f, pivotally secured tothe lever K, all constructed, arranged, and operating substantially asand for the purpose set forth.

FRANK B. ERlVIN.

Witnesses:

C. C. TILLMAN, (Jn/is. E. GORTON.

